Inclusion22: Knowing When You Can’t DIY DEI

The key takeaways from our live session at the Inclusion22 Virtual Conference

Green Park’s Jo Heath and B&Q’s Andy Moat explains how Green Park is helping DIY experts, B&Q, carry out their own home improvements and build a more diverse, inclusive culture

The recent Inclusion22 event saw the Managing Partner of our Diversity, Inclusion, Culture & Ethics Practice, Jo Heath, take to the virtual stage to explain how Green Park is helping B&Q to build a more diverse and inclusive workplace culture. She was joined by Andy Moat, People Director at the retailer, who spoke about the impact on B&Q’s employee experience and engagement.

In essence, the session was a practical exploration of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) implementation through successful strategic partnerships. Jo began by laying out the challenges facing B&Q, which included lack of Black, Asian and female talent in senior leadership, insufficient leadership support for DEI, and the need to create a better, more inclusive culture.

As Andy commented, B&Q knew they did not have the answers to these issues. The business therefore turned to Green Park for its DEI expertise but also for its advisers, who showed deep understanding of the organisation and shared its passion for DEI improvement.  

Gathering data

B&Q acknowledged that they required an impartial and holistic audit to set a base line, diagnose key issues and identify focus areas. The first step was therefore to launch CARE – Green Park’s Cultural Assessment Review & Engagement audit. It was a huge undertaking, involving interviews with over 500 B&Q colleagues right across the business. When Covid intervened, Green Park quickly switched to a virtual format.

Three months later, Green Park presented a 146-page report that gave a detailed picture of B&Q’s culture. It included a ‘DEI dashboard’ setting out where B&Q needed to improve, with different 21 aspects of its culture rated red, amber or green. Engaging infographics made it easy to visualise key points and statistics. The report also gave recommendations and benchmarked B&Q against Green Park’s D&I Maturity Model. With a score of 2.5 out of 5, it prioritised areas where action was necessary.

Implementing sustainable initiatives

The next part of Jo’s presentation set out the solutions that B&Q took forward. Using the audit as a base, the business built a 10-point improvement plan and its first-ever DEI strategy. Andy and his team also introduced further recommendations including a recruitment review to remove barriers to diverse talent across the recruitment journey. But perhaps the most ambitious initiative was an inclusive leadership development programme for some 700 leaders. Designed by Green Park to take senior staff from cultural curiosity to cultural fluency, it gave leaders the capacity to connect with any aspect of employees’ difference.

Clearly, this process involved a tremendous amount of change, so stakeholder buy-in was crucial. Jo explained how Green Park and B&Q worked together to prioritise goals and build a DEI narrative that set out the commercial case for DEI, as well as the social and moral one.

Action and impact

Since then, there have been some exciting developments at B&Q. Andy described how the business had launched a DEI e-learning module, created five employee diversity networks, introduced reverse mentoring and released a series of powerful ‘This is me’ films. Meanwhile, Jo highlighted some of the game-changing impacts that this work has had. They include:

• Greater emphasis on DEI within the culture
• More accountability for championing DEI
• Greater awareness of microaggressions
• More opportunities for employees to obtain support and engage through employee network groups.

Crucially, research also shows that employees no longer feel the need to dial down aspects of their culture or identity.

Although transformation is ongoing, there has been a large and tangible cultural shift at the retailer. The next step is a bespoke Green Park Allyship programme that’s set to launch in 2023. Meanwhile, Green Park continues to provide strategic support, building internal capability and accountability and driving and measuring impact. Through collaboration, B&Q is achieving remarkable home improvement.

Watch the full session here: